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Another Deadly Series of Tornadoes Strikes Oklahoma

02 June 2013 04:26 (UTC +04:00)

“Five tornadoes - one a half-mile wide - struck the Oklahoma City area Friday evening [local time, Saturday in Moscow],” NBC News reported.

The channel quoted the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as saying that seven adults and two children are confirmed dead. Hospitals in Oklahoma City said at least 104 were injured, five of them critically.

At least five of the victims were traveling in cars when tornadoes stroke, and were apparently trying to flee the area after warning sirens wailed.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph told ABC News that two of the victims - a mother and her baby - were apparently sucked out of their car near Interstate 40.

"We know that the storm picked them up and swept them away," Randolph said. "When the troopers found them, they were both deceased.”

Wind gusts of up to 90 mph, baseball-sized hail and extensive flooding were reported in the area.

An EF-5 tornado swept through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore and the surrounding area on May 20, cutting a path of destruction up to two miles (three km) wide and 22 miles (32 km) long that turned homes and buildings into piles of tangled debris, including two elementary schools.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) puts the death toll at 26.